Q: What are the guidelines for charging shipping
and handling fees to a customer?

A: This question has an interesting answer. After
several calls to various agencies, including the U.S. Postal
Service and the Federal Trade Commission, the answer is: There are
no guidelines. Companies can charge whatever they want for shipping
and handling with impunity.

This explains why many companies collect a shipping and handling
charge that's more than 10 percent of an item's purchase
price. In fact, I noticed a piece of exercise equipment being sold
on television with a $75 shipping and handling charge. The
advertisement provided a 30-day money-back guarantee, less shipping
and handling, of course. This high charge covered the cost of the
item as well as the actual shipping and handling charges!

Q: Is there an independent and affordable group or
organization that will evaluate an idea and provide a written
report?

A: Yes, there are several. Here are two of my
not-for-profit favorites: The Innovation Assessment Center at
Washington State University's Small Business Development Center
in Pullman is designed to assist inventors and small businesses by
evaluating a new product, process or service for its potential
commercial success. Three evaluators (from a pool of more than 400)
are selected to measure your idea against 33
business variables, such as consumer safety, competition and
demand. The cost is $350 for the evaluation and a written
report. For more information, contact Stuart Leidner at (509)
335-1576.

My second pick is the Wisconsin Innovation Service Center in
Whitewater. This center specializes in feasibility assessments and
market expansion opportunities for new products. The expert staff
uses a variety of resources to analyze the product in four areas:
technical feasibility, degree of competition, estimate of need and
demand trends. A fee of $495 buys a written report and an online
patent search, delivered in 30 to 60 days. For more information,
contact Milissa Guenterberg at (414) 472-1365.

For inventions specific to the fields of energy and sports,
there are two resources you can tap to receive a free product
evaluation: The Energy Related Inventions Program (301-975-5500)
and NordicTrack's Inventor's Network (800-967-2113).

Q: My idea has been developed to the point where I have
a finished product complete with packaging. How do I get it on the
market?

A: Books have been written and countless consultants
hired to try to answer this complex question. The best advice I can
give you is to sit down and identify your potential customers. Are
they companies or consumers? Pinning down who your customers will
be makes distribution choices much clearer, and hopefully more
profitable.

Q: What's to prevent a manufacturer from stealing my
idea once I show it to them?

A: You should never talk to a manufacturer or any
vendor about an unpatented idea without first having them sign a
confidentiality nondisclosure agreement. Every vendor I have
worked with has signed one. If a vendor refuses to do so,
that's a red flag, and I suggest you go elsewhere.

That said, let's think practically about manufacturers. They
are in the business of making stuff. The more stuff
they make, the more money they get. Hence,
they want you to be a success because it means more business
for them. Vendors that accept contract work rarely have their
own sales force. Therefore, even if a contracted vendor were to
make your idea without your permission, they would still have the
same challenge you have in trying to sell the product. Most of
these companies want to fill the order and ship the product to
you.

Q: What does "patent pending" mean?

A: When an inventor labels a product with these
words, it means he or she has filed a patent application with the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) and is awaiting the issuance
of a patent. This notification puts the public on notice that this
product is probably going to receive a patent.

An unfortunate truth about patent-pending status is that it
provides no protection to the inventor. Only when a patent is
issued does the inventor have protection. Therefore, a word to the
wise: Never reveal your patent filing date while in patent-pending
status. Since the PTO generally takes one to two years to issue a
patent, a potential competitor who knows your filing date will be
able to calculate how long it will be before you receive patent
protection. With this knowledge, he or she can market your idea
without consequence. It is only from the date of issue that he or
she must stop selling your idea or begin to suffer
consequences.

Q: Are there any Web sites you can recommend to help
inventors and entrepreneurs?

A: The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's (PTO)
Web site, http://www.uspto.gov,
offers everything you need to know about patents and the PTO. For
example, it has a listing of PTO fees and news. This site allows
you to do an online patent search on all patents issued since 1976.
Unfortunately, it does not provide the drawings included in a
patent issuance. However, for a nominal fee, you can order an
actual copy of the patent from this site.

You can also go to the IBM Patent Server at http://www.ibm.com/patent to search
for patents. The advantages to this site include the ability to
conduct a Boolean search (that allows you to input specific search
parameters), see patents as far back as 1971 and view a
patent's drawings.

Sponsored by the National Inventors Hall of Fame, Inventure
Place at http://www.invent.org
is a great site for inventor trivia. It sponsors inventing contests
and has a collection of linked sites.

Known as the Internet Invention Store, http://www.inventing.com, sponsored
by Impulse Communications, showcases inventions from inventors
worldwide. It also has a fairly comprehensive list of
inventing-related books.

If high-tech inventing is your bailiwick, http://www.thetech.org/revolutionaries
is a great site for you to check out. Sponsored by The Tech Museum
of Innovation and the San Jose Mercury News, this site has
online interviews with the leading-edge pioneers of the Silicon
Valley. Interviewees include Michael Hackworth, president and CEO
of Cirrus Logic Inc., and Al Shugart, CEO of Seagate Technology
Inc. (See next month's "Bright Ideas" for more on how
to get inventing help on the Internet.)

Q: Are there ways to protect my idea without the cost
and frustration of filing a patent application?

A: Not really. In an earlier article ("Bright
Ideas," February 1997), I wrote about keeping trade secrets.
Really, the bottom line is this: If you're serious about your
idea, you need to get into the game. You can't gamble without
first placing a bet. The same holds true with ideas. You must
invest in a patent and take risks if you ever hope to hit the
jackpot.

Q: For many reasons, I don't have the resources to
develop my idea. How do I go about selling it?

A: If you decide to try to sell your idea to someone
rather than develop it yourself, you will be traveling a very tough
road. Most large companies you might pitch your idea to have
research and development departments, so if you go to them with a
great idea, you are pretty much saying this department didn't
do its job because it failed to discover your brilliant idea. And
many times your idea will be evaluated by this department, which
has a vested interest in turning it down.

What you want to receive in payment and what a company wants to
pay are usually worlds apart. The company will be doing most of the
work, so it feels it should not have to pay as much as you feel
your "child" is worth. You, on the other hand, are
looking for a road to retirement paved with big dollar signs.
Unless compromise is made on both sides, there can't be a
winning solution.

Finally, most companies that invest in ideas want to know that
it will be a hit. Unless you have developed your idea to a point
where it has been test-marketed, most will not be interested enough
to talk with you.

There is one industry that welcomes ideas from inventors: the
toy and game industry. Many successful toys and games were
developed by individuals, then sold to large toy companies. G.I.
Joe and Trivial Pursuit are two examples. In this industry, there
are toy developers who act as your agent to the toy companies. For
a percentage, they will pitch your toy or game idea to the top
brass and try to get you a contract. These developers are mostly
located in New York City. To find their names, call a toy company
and ask which developers they like to work with.

Tomima Edmark is the inventor of the TopsyTail and several
other products and is author of The American Dream Fact Pack
($49.95), available by calling (800) 558-6779. Questions
regarding inventions and patents may be sent to "Bright
Ideas," Entrepreneur, 2392 Morse Ave., Irvine, CA
92614.